Tuesday, August 21, 2012

New Haven, Madison, and Guilford, CT

I have two pieces of exciting news. First, I have met my $5,000 fundraising goal! Thank you to everyone who has donated to support my efforts and FACE AIDS. The team is still working towards its $100,000 goal, however, so if you haven't had a chance to contribute yet please do so at http://www.citizeneffect.org/projects/face-aids-ride-against-aids-2012-nina. Second, only two days left to Boston! And only twelve days until I finally fly home.

Today we rode 60+ miles from Greenwich, CT to Madison, CT. The ride along Route 1, of course, necessitated a stop in New Haven for a bike tour of Yale University and a serving of fro-yo at Froyo World on High Street (best chocolate fro-yo I've had in quite awhile). New Haven was nothing like I expected, which was a quiet, all-white, peaceful town. Alas, it was no such thing. It was larger, had several run-down neighborhoods, lots of annoying stoplights, a ton of construction and congestion, many noisy trucks and crummy New England drivers, and way too many busy one-way streets. Not that we haven't dealt with these road conditions before (and not that New Haven or any of its realities were bad), but it's just that Gilmore Girls and other various pop culture/media sources had led me to a certain perception. Gabi tried to go to the Peabody Museum but they were rude to her and wouldn't let her in. We also got a lot of weird looks while walking through the area...why doesn't the general Ivy League public approve of us walking around in our cycling gear? I don't know.

After New Haven we killed some rolling hills and continued along Route 80 to Madison, CT, where we showered and ate at a homestay. Then three of us, myself included, relocated to a cottage right on the Long Island Sound (SUCH a beautiful view) to stay the night with a different family, and here I am, inside a cute rustic Connecticut cottage with excellent Wi-Fi.

90+ miles tomorrow to a town north of Providence, RI, and then 50 miles and a ride-along with folks from Partners in Health on Thursday to Boston. I can't believe that I can think of much of this journey in retrospect. We're almost done!

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